Broward faces teacher shortage a year after layoffs

A year after laying off more than 1,400 teachers, Broward County schools have the opposite problem this school year: a shortage of instructors.

The district has about 121 teacher vacancies this year. Almost half are in elementary education, with most of the others in math, science, reading, English and exceptional student education, said Gracie Diaz, assistant superintendent for human resources.

This is after the district hired nearly 700 teachers this summer to meet the state's class size law requirements and to restore cut positions in elementary school art, music and physical education.

The additional need arose because the district expected to lose about 4,900 students to charter schools, but enrollment at the 10-day mark showed it was only about half that.

"So we were able to keep those students, which is great, but it causes a shift and we need to make sure those classes have lower class sizes," she said.

While it may be expensive to hire teachers, it can be even more costly to violate the state law that limits how many students can be in core academic classes.

More than half of Broward County's classes were over the state limits last year, resulting in a $66 million fine -- more than any other district. Superintendent Robert Runcie negotiated to have the fine reduced to less than $9 million.

Two weeks before the school year started, the district had about 200 vacancies. Some were created by teachers waiting to give notice until a few weeks before school started.

Teachers lose their insurance at the end of the month they resign, so some wait until August, causing the district to scramble for replacements.

Diaz said 121 vacancies isn't extraordinarily high. She said the district used to regularly have more than 100 vacancies, although that hasn't happened in the last couple of years.

Last year, the district laid off 1,431 teachers due to cuts in state funds and the loss of federal stimulus dollars. Now, the Broward Teachers Union is baffled about why the district also decided not to renew 157 non-tenured teachers last school year.

The district had cited budget constraints, but then started hiring new teachers.

The union filed a grievance, alleging contract violation. The contract states non-tenured teachers who get satisfactory evaluations are supposed to be renewed if there is a position available, said George Segna, BTU's director of field services.

"Some of the teachers are in shortage areas," he said. "We don't know the reason why some people were not renewed when there are positions available."

Diaz said most of the teachers were not renewed because enrollment declined at their individual school. She said the district has hired back 85 of those teachers. She said a state law passed in 2011 eliminated automatic contract renewals for non-tenured teachers.

"We reviewed this with our legal department, and we feel very comfortable with what the law says and what the district is entitled to do," she said.